One of my daughter's names is Sarah, so the restaurant is named after her in a way. She comes over after school and does her homework and we all spend time together. This is all just perfect, as far as I’m concerned, and it’s the sort of restaurant we dreamed of opening one day.

We did a lot of the manual labor ourselves under the direction of a terrific carpenter and great designer. It’s unbelievable, but it took us only about nine weeks from start to finish.

So we’ve got 114 wines on the list. But all of the wines by the glass are less than 10 dollars. That encourages guests to experiment a bit.

On Wednesdays I begin receiving and doing some butchering. In the morning I make desserts and develop the menu. Each day we do a couple of fish, a couple of meats, warm appetizers and cold salads. We cook everything from scratch and to-order, so I have to plan dishes that will work during service.

Soon the guys arrive, and we get into prep. We get the mise en place all set before people start coming, because the room is empty, and suddenly it’s full and we really get moving. As guests start sitting, I go out and greet them and talk about the food and the wine and make sure everyone’s comfortable.

Then it’s back in the kitchen to cook. There are just three stations – sauté, grill and pantry. I work the middle and plate. It’s just a 10-foot line so we all have responsibilities, but we’re also close enough to help each other.

“Yes,” I tell them, “you’re going to have to spend time at the table, be a human being and make your customers feel good.” It’s called hospitality.